What started with a search for ways to address the shortage of office space in Frisco has evolved into a new economic development tool for the region.

Frisco leaders plan to create local jobs by tapping into the massive wealth that exists outside the United States.

Through its acceptance into the federal EB-5 program, Frisco will recruit foreign investors for development and business projects. In exchange, investors will receive a green card for themselves and their families.

Frisco will offer a turn-key operation for foreign investors that, if successful, offers a huge payoff. An analysis of four hypothetical projects estimates the creation of 1,449 jobs and more than $369 million in economic output in the region.

Frisco expects to target investors in Asia, the Middle East and Latin America.

Jason Barnes, one of the nation’s leading experts on EB-5 programs, said people who see this as mainly an immigration program are wrong.

“It’s a program to access capital,” he told about 100 local government and business professionals gathered Thursday for Frisco’s announcement.

Barnes, a partner at Dallas-based Strasburger & Price LLP, worked with Frisco on the complicated application process. His firm also serves as legal counsel for Frisco’s program. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service approved Frisco’s plan last month, 14 months after it was submitted.

The Frisco Texas International Development Center is now open for business. It will do projects in Collin, Denton and Dallas counties.

The center is owned and operated by the Frisco Economic Development Corp. with support from the city.

EDC president Jim Gandy, who also heads the new center, said Frisco became desperate for new office space several years ago. Developers at the time were having a hard time raising the capital to build. In looking for solutions, the city learned about the EB-5 program.

Under the program, each $1 million in foreign investment in a project must create 10 permanent U.S. jobs. A project involving $10 million in foreign capital, then, must create 100 jobs. Projects in high unemployment areas call for a minimum investment of $500,000 but also must create 10 jobs.

Mayor Maher Maso said Frisco is still one of the fastest-growing cities in the nation. It already has a proven track record of success. And a majority of its businesses have global ties. The new center “is just one more way to take that to a new level,” Maso said.

One of the challenges with the program is the long timeline. The investment must be maintained for two years.

Investors also must pass an extensive screening done by the immigration service in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the FBI before their visas are approved.

Barnes also worked with the city of Dallas, which formed an EB-5 center in 2009. Civitas Capital Management, a private investment firm, runs the City of Dallas Regional Center.

The Dallas and Frisco centers have some overlapping territory, and that’s OK, he said.

“There’s room for more than one,” Barnes said. “Each has its own priorities and demographics it’s trying to serve.”

Both centers are also unique because of their cities’ involvement. The majority of the nation’s more than 430 EB-5 centers are privately run, he said.

The Dallas center is limited to operating in the city of Dallas. Among its projects was helping El Fenix to renovate three locations and open four new restaurants. It also helped fund Forest City’s Cityplace project, a 21-story residential tower with retail at McKinney Avenue and Blackburn Street.

Frisco’s goal is to handle at least four projects within its first five years.

Gandy said the Frisco center has two projects in the pipeline, though he declined to give specifics. He also has been in talks with other cities about projects in their areas.

The center will charge investors an administrative fee, which will fund its operations and extensive marketing that includes trade missions, promotional videos in multiple languages, and offshore and domestic seminars. Already in the works are investment seminars in mainland China, Hong Kong, Vietnam and India.

Gandy said the EB-5 program is consistent with the Frisco EDC’s goals, so it makes sense to pair the two.

“It gives us and any other city in our three-county area another economic tool to hopefully help a project happen that might not otherwise happen,” he said

HOW EB-5 WORKS

PROGRAM BASICS: Foreign investors must put up a minimum of $1 million for a project. Projects in targeted areas with high unemployment allow for a minimum $500,000 investment. Each minimum investment must create 10 permanent jobs. Investors who are approved for the program receive a green card for themselves, their spouses and their children under age 21.

BENEFITS: Projects get capital at below-market interest rates. Areas gain jobs. Investors get lawful, permanent residency in the United States for themselves and their families.

DRAWBACKS: The process takes time. Participants must maintain the investment in the program for at least two years. And approvals for green cards from immigration services can take months. The investments do not have a high rate of return.